Best of 2015 Quarter 2

Every three months, we highlight the five best beers we drank for the first time(sorry, no Bourbon County Stout, Zombie Dust, Heady Topper, etc.). It's a great way to share what we're enjoying and for contrasting our individual tastes. We also include a runner-up beer that is similar in style to the beer that made the list. If you can’t find a beer on the list, maybe you can find the runner-up alternative.

Check our Quarter 1 list on Facebook and let us know your favorite beer(s) have been so far in 2015 in the comments, on Twitter/Instagram (@beertasteslike) or by email at Beertasteslike@gmail.com.

Drinker's Comments

Rodney

A couple points to note: Adam and I are ignoring our trip to Dark Lord Day as we had so many #whalezbro that it deserves an entire post. Also, I said three months ago that I was going to take better notes, blah-blah-blah, it didn’t happen. Life happens.

So, I may have missed a few awesome beers, but these five stood out. My list encompasses a lot of variety—each is a different beer style! None of these beers are so rare that you have to sell a kidney (but if you're like me, you've probably thought about it once or twice). And a couple of the beers are readily available today in Midwest bottle shops. I didn’t break down my beers intentionally by style, but it happened to work out that way. Cheers!

Adam

In late winter and early spring I spent a lot of time trying to perfect my IPA recipes. When I purchase beer I usually buy within the style I’m brewing; it’s good inspiration and provides something to strive for. Sometimes it also gives me a good idea of the aroma and flavor of hop varieties and combinations.

When I started to mentally prepare for this list I realized it would be full of pale hoppy beers. And of course there are two IPAs, an Imperial IPA and a hoppy wheat ale. The outlier is Seizoen Bretta from Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, which was such an outstanding beer I couldn’t exclude it.

If you can still get any of the beers on my list, act fast! Hoppy beers need to be consumed fresh, but that Logsdon could sit in a cellar happily for a bit of time. Be warned, I’ve been brewing saisons, farmhouse ales and strong Belgians recently, so don’t be surprised at the Q3 list. Until then, drink well.